3PEACE

An interview with 3PEACE following their recent performances at SAVAGE Sounds and Rare FM Spotlight.

How would you guys introduce 3Peace to someone who’d never heard of you before?

We tend to say ‘jazz-fusion-cum-electronic-music’ these days, but we’ve always struggled with that neat little summary people often expect from a band! We always stress the dance-element to it though, that being really one of the main motives for this project.

You’ve only been performing since the summer, and your first show was the new 3WD Festival. How was that for you? And how does the festival compare to more recent shows you’ve played?

Well first of all, thank you to 3WD for having us! It’s an amazing new festival for anyone that hasn’t heard of it and it was a really big deal for us in getting this group off the ground. We’d only been playing together for just under two months, so we had no idea how it’d go down. We’d done a lot of rehearsals in my bedroom and there was this big question of ‘Is anyone going to like this, or is this some total nonsense dream attempt to throw together a bunch of random shit we like?!’ It went down really well though, and it was a massive confidence boost that drove us to really pursue more gigs in London… It was also where we met the 12th Isle boys [Glaswegian record label/DJ collective] and from that spawned our trip up to play in Glasgow the other week – so I guess as a first gig it couldn’t have gone much better!

You’ve been described as Placebo fused with Drexciya – do you agree with this comparison? What elements of genre and influences do you find most important to the project? Or do you prefer not to focus on these things?

Yeah we see it! Or at least we want to see it… Both of those groups are legendary in their own rights to us, so it was a great compliment. We want to clarify that they were not talking about ‘90s alt-rock Placebo though, it’s ‘70s jazz-fusion Placebo! And to be likened to Drexciya, as opposed to more typical jazzy house/electronic fusions is really awesome, since we do love more esoteric sounds and genres within electronic music. In a way what I think defines our way of making music is that it’s a ‘jazz approach’, but the materials approached and worked on range from breakbeat-based jungle to electro, techno, hip-hop and ambient music. All played live, all structured and improvised on in a jazz manner, but broad-based in where we’re taking the influence from.

You organised and sold out your own show at Club Makossa in September – how important do you consider creating your own immersive nights, rather than just playing a thirty-minute set?

We’re big fans of the independent party, the DIY approach to music promotion and events. For us at least it allows you to create an overall vibe throughout the night, a vibe that fits our sound and complements it, drawing from that same pool of influences but creating coherence within that. The reason, for instance, we booked DJ Whaleshark is because he knows us and our music well and he responds to that – the musical response is what it’s all about. Whether it’s the dialogue within the band or the dialogue between bands and DJs, that’s really what makes music and putting on shows great. Dialogue is central to how we create music – it all comes out of sitting down and jamming out a musical conversation with different vocabularies.

What drew you to your eclectic instrumentation and sound?

It was partly through sitting down and making what we could with the gear we had– a few synths, drums, percussion and sax. We took the approach of jamming it out with those elements and seeing what came of it, so the sound is partly shaped by the abilities and limitations of each of those bits of gear. From a stylistic point of view though each of us brings a personal leaning and aesthetic into the mix – our own particular flavour. That’s what makes it interesting for us in a way, the tunes feel like they’re being dragged in different directions – part jazz, part techno, part whatever really, but they make some kind of sense too.

You also recently played in Glasgow – how did this compare to your London shows? Was there a difference in audience and their reception of your music?

Glasgow was amazing. The crowd was great and the whole night was a really good vibe. It felt different to London, less self-aware and stand-offish. It was the biggest gig we’ve played and a very different event to our other gigs – with us being the only live act playing alongside the 12th Isle DJs, and playing peak time around 1-2AM. It gave us more of an opportunity to really approach it from a dance perspective – trying our best to maintain that kind of momentum and energy that keeps dancefloors moving.

As 2017 is coming to an end, what are your plans for the next year of 3Peace?

Gigs! We’re only 6 gigs deep so far so right now we’re just trying to get out there and get the word out. That said, we’re also thinking more carefully about the kind of gigs we’re playing, since like we said the club setting is one we want to be tapping into more as well. Recording ideas are ticking over, but that isn’t something we’re rushing into… And we’re thinking about hosting more nights like the one at Makossa, looking to get other performers involved and potentially create some collaborative work out of those evenings. Looking to get some other elements to drop into the dialogue!